There’s a lot of talk these days about America’s greatness and whether that quality solely existed in our collective past, or if it persists in the present, or whether it needs to be made so once more. The fact is, we have hallowed halls that are testaments to the people who have achieved greatness. These buildings are living tributes, always inducting more heroes from whatever field they’ve excelled at. Some of those fields are actual fields while others are parks, arenas or stadiums. And lovers of these fields and their respective champions that we are, we have a proclivity for visiting them to gaze upon their super-heroic costumes and tools of their trades. Herein are a few of these galleries of greatness, these pantheons of perfection, these halls of fame. Plus beer.

Drinking a maß of Märzen or sipping a stange of Kölsch is okay as far as trying to celebrate the Reinheitsgebot and Germany’s 500-year-old beer purity law, but when I was invited to head to the land of lagers and weisses to see how this tradition is holding up, I found two things: braumeisters who are, admittedly, a bit jealous of the creativity that modern craft (or privatebraueries) allow, but also people who take great pride in making the beers that their customers love and feel very passion about as being real bier! Southern Germany is postcard picture beautiful at nearly every turn. Prost!

People just love to experience the weird. For this installment of All About Beer’s Beer Traveler column, we explore breweries around the country where one can also visit nearby actual odd museums. After all, beer is its own work of art, but anything can be treasured when displayed properly. Here’s a smattering of the most bizarre collections curated under one roof along with some “only in (insert town here)” beers that can be enjoyed nearby.

Growing up in Southern California, and even becoming a burgeoning beer geek down there, I didn’t have much opportunity to become exposed to a real beer culture. Sure it’s booming all over the Southland now, but it was late to the table. Real estate is too expensive for manufacturing. Beer wasn’t seen as stylish as wine and cocktails. Beer has calories and the camera adds ten pints. But before San Diego changed all that, there was beer in Temecula, courtesy of one Vinnie Cilurzo now of Russian River fame! And today, the bedroom community that services both LA and SD is home to nearly a dozen breweries.

What is barely touched on in this story is that I wanted to write this story as a way to kind of illustrate to my dad what I do for a living. He wasn’t much of a craft beer drinker. He is an avid golfer. Temecula is home to some great golf courses, which he’s been playing since I was a little kid and got to drive the golf cart. So I pitched both him, and my editor at All About Beer, this story where he and I would hit the links by day and the myriad breweries by night. (I’m scarcely better at golf now, but my dad has since developed a passion for Berliner Weisse and even barrel-aged sour beers including Russian River Consecration!!)

As the Beer Traveler columnist for All About Beer Magazine, I’ve gotten to write about myriad far flung places. This time, I got to write about home–Portland (Link coming soon). This coincided with the issue that streeted during the annual Craft Brewers Conference which took place in the Rose City this year. As such, I was also assigned a story on the best bars craft beer is served. Correction: the best nudie bars craft beer is served.